1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to food processing, and more particularly, to a roller press that can, for example, compress sugarcane to extract the natural juice. Other applications will become apparent throughout the drawings and description.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several designs for roller presses have been designed in the past. None of them, however, includes a way to easily remove the rollers to clean the device for the most sanitary treatment of the machine and its constituent parts.
Other roller presses have been known for many years. Typical designs have two or more stiff rollers spaced apart so that there is a constant gap between the rollers. The material to be pressed is passed between the rollers. The gap is smaller than the material being passed through the press resulting in great pressure applied during the pressing procedure.
As the material to be pressed is squeezed between the rollers the juices, oils, sap and other components are freed from the base material. The removed matter, often a gel or liquid, drips down by force of gravity into a collection vessel.
For example, a traditional manual cane press may have three rollers, each closely spaced. At least one of the rollers is powered by a hand crank, motor or animal motion. A stalk of sugarcane (or other plant material) is fed between the rollers and is summarily crushed and squeezed to separate the solids from the liquids.
Other types of presses have been used and are not suitable to the disclosed technology. For example, centrifugal spin presses and simple plate pressure presses are used in other applications and for specific plant matter.
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,035 issued to Sanchez. However, it differs from the present invention because the Sanchez patent fails to solve the problem of how to effectively remove the rollers for maintenance and cleaning procedures.
Sanchez notes in dictum that the rollers can be attached to the roller shafts with a spline or key on the roller that mates with a corresponding slot on the shaft. Admittedly, this method has had some success. However, it is far from fully satisfactory.
Roller presses can be used to extract viscous and sticky liquids. For example, raw sugar extract poses specific hazards and complications when applied to precise machinery. When fresh or dried it can gum up the mechanisms of the machine. The spline and key type roller attachment means is particularly susceptible to the deleterious effects of repeated and constant contact with plant juices.
In short, the type of press taught by Sanchez will require frequent, often daily, cleaning. The spline and keyway combination can become gummed up and essentially bonded thereby making removal of the rollers from the machine difficult. Often this results in the need for use of tools to remove the roller. Far too often tools are misplaced or broken making the job of removal of the rollers exceedingly difficult for many users of a roller press.
It is human nature to avoid issues that are difficult. The harder it is to remove the rollers from a roller press, the less frequently they are removed. The less frequently rollers are removed the greater the likelihood of foodborne contamination, insect infestation and damage to the machine from corrosion and general neglect.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.